Cabrera and McCutchen claim MVP awards

Miguel Cabrera and Andrew McCutchen have scooped the biggest individual end-of-season honours in baseball by claiming the Most Valuable Player award for their respective leagues.

Detroit Tigers slugger Cabrera claimed the American League MVP award for the second year straight, the first AL player to do so since Frank Thomas did in 1993-94, after leading the majors in hitting at .348 and finishing second in scoring with 44 home runs and 137 RBIs.

The eight-time All-Star's achievement is all the more remarkable given that he struggled with numerous injuries all season, and required groin surgery at mid-season, but still secured 23 of the 30 votes from the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

Cabrera, who triggered a $1 million bonus in his contract with the award, said: "I think this year was tougher because of the injuries. It was tough for the last two months. It was tough to play through it."

In the National League, Pittsburgh Pirates centrefielder Andrew McCutchen received a staggering 28 votes to win the MVP award for the first time ahead of Paul Goldschmidt and Yadier Molina, after he helped his side make the playoffs for the first time since 1992 after 20 straight losing seasons.

McCutchen was among the league leaders by hitting .317, with 21 home runs and 84 RBIs, while also scoring 97 runs, stealing 27 bases and ending the year with a .404 on-base percentage.

McCutchen said: "I'm floating right now. But I definitely didn't expect it to be a landslide with those other guys - Goldschmidt and Molina. They were great candidates, and I didn't know what to expect."

Earlier this week, Tigers' pitcher Max Scherzer and Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers each won the Cy Young Award, which recognises the best pitcher in each league, while Tampa Bay's Wil Myers and Jose Fernandez of the Florida Marlins won Rookie of the Year awards.